Single Initiator and Single Target Zoning

[MSL]

Hi

As of now we are using zoning with single initiator and multiple targets. We have both Dell Compellent and EMC SAN. With Compellent we are using virtual interfaces against each physical ports / wwns and DELL recommended to use all four virtual interfaces as target in a zone. With EMC SAN and MDS we are confused to go with "single initiator with single target" or "single initiator with multiple target" option. Is there performance impact or load for  single initiator with multiple target option or is a just a best practice ?

Thanks in advance

[Walter Dey]

There is no performance issue; maybe if your zoning environment is very big, you would have to check the MDS SAN limitations:

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/datacenter/mds9000/sw/7_3/configuration/config_limits/b_mds_9000_configuration_limits_7_3.html

Most storage vendors recommend single initiator - single target zoning; of course this means more work, than single initator - multiple targets.

You may also consider smart zoning, which is Cisco proprietary, and not available on all plattforms:

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/storage-networking/zoning/116390-technote-smartzoning-00.html

[Ahmed Abdullahi]

Why is single initiator single target recommended when using smartzoning?

[Walter Dey]

As I said, smart zoning is Cisco only, and useful for very big zones, which you most likely don't have.

Therefore, the smallest common denominator is single initiator - single target zoning, which applies to Brocade, Qlogic, Cisco FC fabric, and any storage vendor, IBM, EMC, Netapp,....